Performance of parthenocarpic lines of brinjal (Solanum melongena L.) in net house and open field during the rainy season

Abstract

Brinjal carries facultative parthenocarpy that is affected by
seasonal variation and the environment of cultivation.
Twenty-four parthenocarpic genotypes involving three
parthenocarpic hybrid checks and one non-parthenocarpic
varietal check (Punjab Neelam) were included to assess their
performance under net house and open-field conditions
during the rainy season. The genotypes, environments, and
their interactions affected the performance of all the traits
under investigation. Among the genotypes, PC-104-13-3,
PC-104-13-1, PC-104-12-2, PC-104-3-1, PC-133-1, PC-136-4,
PC-115-1, and non-parthenocarpic check Punjab Neelam had
been the best for vegetative growth, while 93213-PC-2-1
and 93213-PC-2-3 for earliness and yield-related traits. In
general, all the vegetative, flowering, fruiting, and yieldrelated
traits flourished better under net house conditions
as compared to open field conditions. Interaction effects
between environment and genotype indicated that 93213-
PC-2-1 and 93213-PC-2-3 were earlier for days to first harvest
(35.0 and 38.0 days), at the top for the number of flowers per
cluster (10.67 and 11.33, respectively), the number of fruits
per cluster (6.67 and 7.00, respectively) and the maximum
number of marketable fruits per plant (25.51 and 28.03,
respectively), when grown under net house conditions. The
maximum and statistically at par average fruit weight was
observed in PC-104-13-1 (298.33 g) and parthenocarpic
hybrid check Nikki (291.67 g) in net house conditions. The
parthenocarpic genotypes PC-123-1 (2.89 kg), PC-2016-6-2
(2.87 kg), PC-1-12-2 (2.78 kg), PC-104-13-1 (2.64 kg), PC-17-1
(2.61 kg), parthenocarpic hybrid checks Shelly (2.74 kg) and
Nikki (2.73 kg), and Amaron check (2.55 kg) displayed at par
marketable fruit yield per plant under net house conditions.
In all, the marketable yield and its related traits during the
rainy season were affected by the environment of cultivation,
where the parthenocarpic genotypes performed better in
net house conditions in brinjal.